Rock drill support



June 26, 1945. FEUCHT ROCK- DRILL SUPPORTS Filed April 14, 1943 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN.T0 ALBE T FEUCHT BY v ATTORNEY June 26, 1945.FEUCHT 2,379,137

ROCK DRILL SUPPORTS Filed April 14, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F I- i, m 39 II I U g INVENTOR Patented June 26, 1945 ROCK DRILL SUPPORT AlbertFeucht, Garfield Heights, Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to TheCleveland Pneumatic Tool Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of OhioApplication: April 14, 1943, Serial N0. 482,964

' 4 Claims (Cl. 255-51) The present invention relates broadly to rockdrilling equipment but more particularly to a drilling apparatusincluding a rock drill of the drifter type having an adjustable mountingfor supporting and moving the drill.

In work necessitating the use of such equipment,.namely, tunnelingoperations requiring the removal of rock or ore, holes must be drilledfor the blasting charges in the face of the workings to drive the tunnelor drift. The form of the tunnel face produced by such a blast will begoverned primarily by the depth to which the holes are drilled. Flatperpendicular tunnel faces are particularly desirable, but to obtain thesame it is necessary to have the blind ends of the holes lie in the samevertical plane extending laterally of the tunnel, so. that-the rock orore body will break cleanly in approximately this same plane when thecharges are fired.

Means for rapidly raising and lowering the rock.

drill in the process of drilling holes for a blasting round are wellknown in the art. Heretofore the supporting means controlling theposition of the drillhas been of the nature of an arm or boomlike.member which pivots about a fixed. point located on the base or frame ofthe supporting structure. A drill so held moves in a vertical arc, whichsometimes necessitates shifting the position of the base or frame tocompensate. for variations in the distance between the drill and thework face.

The primary object of the invention is to provide improved means formounting the drill whereby the mounting can be maintained in a, constantvertical plane parallel to the, face of. the work when moving from onedrilling position to another.

A further object of the invention is 130 p o:- vide an improved mountingfor rock drills adapted to be associated with a mine car or othersupport in such, a manner that the boom or supporting member for thedrill is capable ofmovement through a multiplicity of angles whenchanging the working position of the drill while maintaining the drillmounting in a singlevertical plane substantially parallel to the faceof. the. work.

Other objects and advantages more or less ancillary to the foregoingreside in the specific-con: struction and aggroupment of the elementspeculiar to this structure, as will become apparent. from a morecomplete examination of this specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the improveddrill;

mounting means shown associated with. a mine car. i

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of amodified form of the invention. i a

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view thereof.

Fig. 5-is a cross-sectional view taken substantially on line 55 of Fig.3.

Fig. 6 is av detail elevational view of the rear end of the rock drillsupporting boom .asseen on line 66 of Fig. 4'.

Referring to the drawings for a more detailed. description andparticularly Figs. 1 and-2 thereof, a mine car of conventionalconstruction is generally designated by the reference numeral 8 the samebeing movable withinv a mine Blon: the tracks 9. It is to be understoodthat. for purposes of illustration only, the supporting means for thedrill isshown associated with a mine car, and that with slightmodification, said means for supporting the rock drill and formingthepresent invention, is capable of use with any portable or stationarymember.

Extending vertically from the front end. of: the car 8 and suitablyattached to. the floor Ml thereof, is a pair of members I I and H. Asimi-v ilar pair of upright members l3 and I4 issuitably. connected tothe floor of the car adjacent the rear end thereof. The uprights ll, l2,l3 and: I4, together with means for rigidly supporting them such as thefloor I0 of the car, constitutea frame. The members l3 and I4.aresubstantially shorter than the members H. and I2: and support themeans for effecting movement. ofz the drilling apparatus generallydesignated: by: the reference numeral I5 and suitably supported on theupper end of the boom I 6. While the boom I6 is illustrated asof tubularconstruction, it may be desired, in actual practice, to form. the samesubstantially square in cross-section. in which case the side walls-ofthe boom. would have frictional contact with the inner surfaces of themembers H and I2.

The rear end of the boom I6 is substantially T-shaped as indicated at H,the lateral extenisions thereof having frictional contactwith the:

Each member I3 and. I4 is formedwith amean like extension. 20. betweenwhich. is. journaled. a.

the crank 26 to effect rotation of the gear wheel which will in turnrotate the drum 24 for a purpose to be hereinafter more fully described.

The intermediate portion of the boom l6, or that portion of the boomwhich is disposed between the upright members II and I2 is pressed outas indicated at 21' for guiding contact with the inner faces of themembers II and I2. The portion 21 carries a threaded stud 21 whichextends completely through the two upright members and is movable in anarcuate slot 28 formed in each of said members. The arcuate slot 28 isbest shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings and it is to be understoodthat asimilar slot is also formed in the upright member..|2 which is 10- catedin substantial parallelism with theslot 28. A pulley 29 is supported ona threadedshaft 3|] between the members I I and I2 adjacent their upperends and is held between said members by means of a nut or the like 3|.

A cable 32 has one endfixedly secured to the boom I6 as indicated at 33and its other end is trained over and under the pulley 2| for attachmentto the drum 24. v I

As before indicated the rock drill conventional construction andincludes a drill steel 34 and feeding mechanism 35." As is well known inthe art, the drill steel 34 is moved into engagement with the workthrough the feeding mechanism 35 and is operated by compressed air tocreate a series of reciprocating impulses thereto. The front end of theboom l6 carries an arm 36 the same being attached to said boom by theclamping means 31. The arm 36 is connected to the feeding mechanism 35by any, desired means for supporting said feeding mechanism and rockdrill for movement with the boom I6. For the purposes of this case, thearm 36 may be considered to be the drill mounting.

In the operation of the device, when desiring to move the rock drill I5from the position illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the drill steel34 is first withdrawn from the wall- 38 of the mine. To lower the drill,counterclockwise rotation is imparted to the drum 24 through the crankarm 26 which will unwind the cable 32 from the drum causing theintermediate portion of the boom I6 or more particularly its supportingstud 21 to move downwardly within the slots 28 of the members I I andI2. At the same time, the end ll of the boom I6 is traveling rearwardlywithin the slots I8 until the supporting stud 21 passes through themid-position of the arcuate slots 28, and then travels forwardly withinthe slots I8 as the cable 32 is being unwound from the drum. Byreferring to Fig. 2 of the drawings, it will be noted from-the dottedline illustration that the boom I6 has been moved into various positionswithout affecting the fore and aft posi-- tion of the arm 36 and theclamp-31 thus .maintaining the rock drill I5 and its .drill'steel 34 atsubstantially-the same distance from: the face of the wall 38. Thus whendesiring to drill a hole, afterchanging the positionofthe. drill l5,

very little movement of the feeding mechanism.

I5 is ofisrequired in order to bring the drill steel 34 into contactwith the wall of the mine. When moving the boom I6 and its supporteddrill I5 upwardly, the crank arm 26 is rotated in a clockwise directionwhich will wind the cable on the drum 24 and cause the rear end of theboom to move forwardly within the slots I8 and the intermediate stud 21to move upwardly through the arcuate slots 28 until the drill I5 isbrought into the desired drilling position. The pulleys 2| and '29 serveas a guide for the cable, preventing tangling of the same in its travelto and from the drum 24. The cable 32 having one end attached at 33 tothe boom will cause said boom to be raised and lowered upon rotation ofthe drum 24 in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, respectively.

In the form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 3 to 6 inclusive,there is also illustrated a. mine car 39 having front and rear pairs ofupright members 40 and 4|, respectively, which uprights, together withthe car floor, constitute a supporting frame. The rock drill 42 issupported upon an arm 42' at the upper end of the boom 43 in the samemanner as in the preferred form. The boom 43 is movable in the saidframe for raising and lowering the arm 42 or the'drill mounting whilemaintaining it in a given vertical plane transverse to the supportingframe.

The rear pair of upright members 4| supports the mechanism for movingthe boom 43 to various angular positions, some of which areillustratedin dotted lines in Fig. 4 of the drawings. Mounted on theouter face of one of the members 4|, there is a gear wheel 45 rotatableon a stub shaft 46. The gear wheel 45 is encased within a steppedhousing 41 which is bolted or otherwise secured to one of the members 4|as indicated at 48. Extending laterally from the housing 41 is an arm49, the inner end of said arm carrying a worm gear in mesh with the gearwheel 45. The outer end of the arm 49 carries a crank 5| adapted to bemanually operated for rotating the worm gear 50 and gear wheel 45. Theother member 4| has a relatively short stub shaft 52 projecting inwardlytherefrom and mounted within a bearing 53. The shafts46 and 52 haveattached thereto or integral therewith parallel arms 54 and 55,respectively, which are rotatable with their respective shafts uponoperation of the crank 5|.

Supported between the free ends of'the arms 54 and 55 is the lower end56 of the boom 43, said lower end being connected to the arms forrotation therewith when changing the drilling location of the rockdrill. The end 56 carries a bearing plate 51 which is bolted orotherwise secured to a second bearing plate 58. A hollow sleeve 59 issupported between the plates 56 and 51 through which extends a bolt 60passing through aligned apertures in the free ends of the arms 54 and 55whereby the unit including the heavy plates, sleeve and lower end of theboom is attached between the arms'54 and 55. A nut 6| retains the unitin fixed position. As shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, the sleeve 59equals the width of the space between the arms 54and 55 preventing endplay of the unit as'rotation is imparted thereto. As is .to beunderstood, this pivotal connectionv of the lower end .56, of the boom43 will cause said end and arms to swing through the are indicated indotted lines in Fig. 4 and designated by the reference numeral: 62 asrotation is imparted to the. arms through the gears 45 and. 50.

The intermediate portion of the boom 43 is slidably held between thepair of upright members 40. An elongated slot 63 is formed in the boom43 and extends entirely therethrough. A bolt or other fastening means 64extends through the pair of members 40 and the slot 63 in a manner topermit the boom 43 to slide relative to the upright members 40 as thearms 54 and 55 are rotated in the manner previously described.

The operation of this form of the invention is thought to be readilyobvious from an inspection of Fig. 4 of the drawings. When desiring tochange the location of the drill 42 and drill steel 44 for a newdrilling position, the crank will be rotated in a clockwise direction tolower the drill which will cause the arms 54 and 55 to rotate followingthe path of the are 62. This rotation of the arms will permit the boom43 to slide the length of the elongated slot 63 while maintaining theouter end of the boom and the arm 42 in a single vertical planetransverse to the supporting frame. The dotted line illustration 65shows the boom 43 in a substantially horizontal position but it will beobserved that the clamping end of said boom is directly beneath itsposition in the full line illustration. The dotted. line illustration 66shows the boom 43 having moved approximately 90 degrees from the fullline position, while maintaining the outer or clamping end thereof inthe same vertical plane. When desiring to raise the drill 42 and itsdrillsteel 44, the crank 5| will be rotated in a counter-clockwisedirection which will reverse the travel of the arms 54 and 55 throughthe arc 62 causing sliding movement of the boom 43 within the limits ofthe slot 63.

While the arm 54 alone is directly connected to the rotating gears 45and 53, the rigid connection of the lower end of the boom 43 to the arm55 is sufiicient to rotate the arm 55 in unison with said arm 54. As. isto be understood, the arms 54 and 55 are in parallel relation at alltimes, either during movement or when stationary.

In each form of the invention, means have been provided for raising andlowering the boom and at the same time moving it longitudinally, so thatthe end ofthe boom which supports the drill moves vertically or parallelto the face of the wall being drilled. After repositioning the drill,very little forward movement of the drill steel is thus required inorder to again bring the same into drilling contact with the Wall of themine.

Although the foregoing description is necessarily of a detailedcharacter, in order to completely set forth the invention, it is to beunderstood that the specific terminology is not intended to berestrictive or confining and it is to be further understood that variousrearrangements of parts and modifications of structural detail may beresorted to without departing from the scope or spirit of the inventionas herein claimed.

I claim:

1. In drilling mechanism, front and rear supports rigid with respect toeach other, a boom carried by said supports and extending beyond thefront support, a drill mounting at the forward end of said boom, saidboom being arranged to swing through a vertical are for adjusting theheight of said drill mounting, cooperating means between the boom andone of said supports for moving the boom longitudinally as it swings inorder to maintain a straight vertical path of movement for saidmounting, and a horizontally slidable interconnection betweenthe boomand the other of said supports, said interconnection remaining at afixed level.

2. In drilling mechanism, front and rear supports rigid with respect toeach other, a boom carried by said supports and extending beyond thefront support, a drill mounting at the forward end of said boom, a pinand slot connection between the boom and said rear support, the pin ofsaid connection remaining at a fixed level in its support andconstituting a pivot about which the boom swings through a vertical arefor adjusting the height of said drill mounting, and cooperating meansbetween the boom and said front support for moving the boomlongitudinally as it swings in order to maintain a straight verticalpath of movement for said drill front support for moving said boomlongitudinally.

as it swings in order to maintain a straight vertical path of movementfor said drill mounting, and flexible means attached to said boom andoperated from said rear support for swinging the boom up or down aboutthe pin of said pin and slot connection. 4

4. In drilling mechanism, front and rear supports rigid with respect toeach other, a boom carried by said supports and extending beyond thefront support, a drill mounting at the forward end of said boom, a pinand slot connection between the boom and said front support, the pin ofsaid connection remaining at a fixed level and constituting a pivotabout which theboom swings through avertical arc for adjusting theheight of said drill mounting, and a crank on said rear supportcomprising an arm pivotally connected with the said boom, the partsbeing so dimensioned and arranged and the movement of the crank beingthrough an angle such that said drill mounting is maintained in astraight vertical path as the boom swings up or down.

ALBERT FEUCHT.

